Portable computers have recently exceeded desktop computers in their popularity. Laptop (notebook) and tablet style computers may be found in the work environment, at home or used during travel, perhaps as a result of their advantages, particularly when equipped with wireless communicating technology. Advantages such as low power consumption, long battery life, small size, low weight and communicability make the portable computer available to nearly everyone everywhere. One potential downside of these devices is their interface with peripheral devices. Often the portable computer must be accompanied by a carrying case which may be used to store a variety of peripheral devices, such as a mouse, power cord, dongles, USB cables, etc.
While text input may still occur through a keyboard, non-text input and selection, via cursor movement such as by pointing and clicking, has continuously evolved. Initially these functions were performed with the keyboard. Then the wired, mechanical mouse was introduced, followed by track balls and joysticks. As the size of personal computers has been reduced and laptops were introduced, “track pads” and “eraser-head” pointing devices were introduced. At first tethered to the laptop by a restrictive cable, wireless technology has allowed the mouse to now be operated freely in the vicinity of the computer.
Originally, the mechanical mouse included a captured moving ball and encoder wherein movement of the ball generated an x, y directional signal to control the cursor. More recently, the optical mouse has been developed which may not be quite as dependent on a planar resting surface. Originally, optical mouse technology bounced a focused beam of light off a highly reflective mouse pad (surface) to a sensor. The mouse pad included a grid of dark lines which interrupted the light beam. The interruption caused a sensor to send a signal to the computer to trigger cursor movement. A current type of optical mouse uses a relatively small camera to take as may as 1,500 pictures per second. A light-emitting diode (LED) bounces light off a work surface into a complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. The sensor sends each image to a digital signal processor (DSP) which is able to detect changes in pattern in the images. Based on the changes in pattern over a sequence of images, the DSP determines how far the mouse has moved and sends the coordinates to the computer which moves the cursor based on the coordinates received from the mouse. An optical mouse may therefore provide improved tracking resolution, is devoid of moving parts and may be suitable for use on a variety of different surfaces.
Accordingly, within the computer industry, there is a continuing need to improve the general interaction of peripheral devices, such as a mouse, with the host computer. Such improvements may center on expanding the use of a computer port, the identification of special ports or the development of other unique interface protocols. Such improvements may also center on the peripheral device geometry and mechanical functionality and/or optical functionality (e.g., adopting a first configuration when engaging with the computer and a second, more functional and ergonomically pleasing configuration when utilized by the consumer). The peripheral devices may include any electronic device capable of uploading or downloading of information, or even a stand-alone electronic device that may uniquely rely on the computer for storage and/or charging.